Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall

by Zeke Faux

The segment had the badly disguised bleakness of an infomercial for a multilevel-marketing company. It was hard to imagine that Fallon or Hilton had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for ape cartoons, or that their endorsement would lead anyone else to buy one. But within three months of the segment, the price of the cheapest Bored Apes rose to $410,000. Tons of other celebrities were buying them. There were pro athletes, like Warriors star Steph Curry, Shaq, Dez Bryant, Neymar, and Von Miller; rappers Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Post Malone; DJs, including Steve Aoki and Diplo; and musicians like The Chainsmokers. Justin Bieber paid $1.3 million for his. Gwyneth Paltrow bought one too. On Twitter, many of them made the apes their profile picture.